She was an American geologist and oceanographic cartographer.Google is Celebrating the Life of Marie Tharp.
Marie Tharp
She helped create the first map of the ocean floor.
She was born in Ypsilanti,Michigan on July 30,1920 to William and Bertha Tharp.
Her father worked for the United States Department OF Agriculture.
Her father job required her family to move often,she attended about 17 different schools before she graduated from high school.
She earned her Master’s degree in Geology in 1944,the another bachelor’s degree in mathematics in 1943.After receiving her degree.
She went to work as a research assistant at the Lamont Geological Laboratory in Columbia University in New York.
While there,she met Bruce Heezen,a current geology graduate student,who she would collaborate with for the next 30 Years.
Tharp and Heezen became part of a research primary to map the topography of the ocean floor.Women this time were not allowed on boats.
So while Marie never Physically got to voyage out to the sea while working on the ocean floor mapping,she was still the primary contributor.
As a women scientist in the mid 20th century,she received an Outstanding Achievement Award from the Society of Women Geographers in 1996.
She passed away from cancer on August 23,2006 at the age of 86.